E-mail, Feeds, 'n' Stuff

Friday, February 12, 2010

Just in time for Valentine's Day

We're watching the Olympics, and up pops a Mattress World commercial. It's the Mattress World lady, Sherri Hiner, who used to appear on camera with her then-husband Jon, before he disappeared a couple of years ago. For a long time now, she's been promising the lowest prices strictly on a solo basis. And she's doing theme commercials these days -- there's a Blazer theme one, and not surprisingly, here's an Olympics version. Bronze is 10% off, silver is 20% off, gold 30%, yada yada yada.

But OMG! In the closing shot, where you get to see her MW-ness and check out what she's got going on these days... there's a NEW DUDE! Kind of a hipster-looking guy. And he gets a speaking part! Don't tell me -- is he the new Mattress Mate?

UPDATE, 8:45 p.m.: And I'm not the only one who noticed. Already we're getting hits via Google from people who are dying to know: Who is the new guy?

It does go back to when they both lost a lot of weight, she more than him. Apparently, I'm not making this up, she took a liking to a couple of the delivery guys and well, that was that, she bought him out of the business and he went his own way.

I have one foot in the hotel biz. I always wondered where my old mattresses ended up on those trade-in deals....
Maybe I've seen too many 20/20 and 48Hours segments to buy a mattress from an outfit like MW.

It must be that my fundamental social skills are stunted from a lack of attention to tv commercials.

Who buys mattresses, anyway? What's that 'customer base'? When I've been in some Giant Showrooms, they're empty. And the Salesbots, I mean, Salesbods are creepy peeps, like 'casket Salesbods in a funeral home'-creepy, worse conversation functionality than car salesmen. I mean, salesbots.

Maybe heavy tv advertising of things makes the salesbods for it so blank-eyed. Or jaded. Tv-injected self-cynicism seems like two octaves lower of the same note as in 'drawing google hits.' And what brought the deluge of mattress advertising anyway, out of nowhere just appeared in full-flower ... like 15 years ago ... is mattresses one-fifth of The Economy now, like drugs and pills? Whatever happened to canned coffee grounds ads? or Kibbles'n'Bits chuck wagon ads, making its own gravy in the bowl?

I like Bill's 'sex as an Olympic sport' line, but that's not going to happen until there is a Fall Olympics and a Spring Olympics, (sexual innuendo intended), in rotation -- a different seasoning of the Olympic 'It' every year. Mattress athletes are NOT going to wait 4 years between torches.

Wasn't there some social maxim by the Tom Peterson precedent for divorce law that says the tv ad agency is the wife's trophy? Maybe you missed your calling, Jack, to specialize in tax law for divorce considerations.

I've always found the "guarantee" Mattress World has to be kinda funny. They say if they can't beat the price of a competitor then the mattress is free. Yeah, sure, they aren't stupid. They'd lower the price by a buck in a heartbeat rather than give away a mattress. But most people are too stupid to understand that. I will bet anyone that Mattress World has NEVER given away a mattress.

For the last several years until about October 2008 I believe the customer base was made up mostly of all those people buying up 5 bedroom houses on easy credit. They were using the same credit to fill the bedrooms with beds and whatnot.

That's why Sheri's business has been hurting so.

Still, I guess there is a helluva markup on the products they are selling. Even the cheap stuff.

Road Work

Miles run year to date: 45
At this date last year: 117
Total run in 2016: 155
In 2015: 271
In 2014: 401
In 2013: 257
In 2012: 129
In 2011: 113
In 2010: 125
In 2009: 67
In 2008: 28
In 2007: 113
In 2006: 100
In 2005: 149
In 2004: 204
In 2003: 269